The Bladeforge (comments)
Thanks! I want to get this story over and done with, and the best way to do that is momentum.
So: Cob returns from war and finds it can make men into heroes and monsters. He gets a little bit of both.
Also, he learns that allegiance is a funny thing. And when your trust becomes arbitrary, you can trust nobody.
So: Cob returns from war and finds it can make men into heroes and monsters. He gets a little bit of both.
Also, he learns that allegiance is a funny thing. And when your trust becomes arbitrary, you can trust nobody.
Sootri changes with time. Cob has to deal with a fickle civilian populace and the problem of what to do with Wilmar.
Last edited by HuManBing on Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cob is put in a very awkward situation. His inexperience with women shines through.
Still, he Just Says No, which is more than can be said for Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza.
Edit: Bonus points for those who can identify the origin of Sootri's poem about the starlit night. (I did not write it - it's an adaptation of a song.)
Edit2: I did write the poem about "the happy days I spent as boy". If you go to the correct bit of Hall House in Repton School in England, UK, you'll see it graffitti'd on a roof support beam, circa 1998.
Edit3: I went back and elaborated on the love scene between Cob and Sootri. Nothing erotic. I wanted to make it very clear that Cob feels probably the same degree of wrongness about this that you, the enlightened modern day reader, feel about this too.
Still, he Just Says No, which is more than can be said for Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza.
Edit: Bonus points for those who can identify the origin of Sootri's poem about the starlit night. (I did not write it - it's an adaptation of a song.)
Edit2: I did write the poem about "the happy days I spent as boy". If you go to the correct bit of Hall House in Repton School in England, UK, you'll see it graffitti'd on a roof support beam, circa 1998.
Edit3: I went back and elaborated on the love scene between Cob and Sootri. Nothing erotic. I wanted to make it very clear that Cob feels probably the same degree of wrongness about this that you, the enlightened modern day reader, feel about this too.
Apparently Rotipher has read the quasi-pseudo-incest scene and declared it to be "coy", and thus suitable for publication here.
This means either of two things.
1. I'm walking the fine line between the artful and offensive.
2. I'm going to have to try harder if I want to be offensive!
Fortunately the brief diet of step-sister-on-step-brother awkward inconclusive love action is now over, and your narrator returns you to your more usual routine of violence, torture, rapine, and bloodlust.
(Note: there will be a future love interest and Cob will not actually have any family relationship with the woman involved. But she WILL be an alcoholic so you can expect the Temperance demographic to be offended. Booya!)
This means either of two things.
1. I'm walking the fine line between the artful and offensive.
2. I'm going to have to try harder if I want to be offensive!
Fortunately the brief diet of step-sister-on-step-brother awkward inconclusive love action is now over, and your narrator returns you to your more usual routine of violence, torture, rapine, and bloodlust.
(Note: there will be a future love interest and Cob will not actually have any family relationship with the woman involved. But she WILL be an alcoholic so you can expect the Temperance demographic to be offended. Booya!)
Cob frees Palt after a brutal and thorough campaign against Malarchus' men.
He learns to admire Malarchus' whose men fight without fear or even the concept of defeat.
He learns to mistrust his own allies, who seem to be willing to court-martial and betray him once he has finished being a convenient pawn to them.
He learns to admire Malarchus' whose men fight without fear or even the concept of defeat.
He learns to mistrust his own allies, who seem to be willing to court-martial and betray him once he has finished being a convenient pawn to them.
Cob falls from grace. He learns the hard way that leading in war and leading in peace are not the same thing.
The reunion with Wilmar does not go as he might hope.
The days spent camping as a watchtower guard are put to good use.
And as always, Cob feels more distress at this than he really lets on, even to himself. And like the man he has been taught to be, he pushes on, never really giving in to self-analysis and self-questioning.
The reunion with Wilmar does not go as he might hope.
The days spent camping as a watchtower guard are put to good use.
And as always, Cob feels more distress at this than he really lets on, even to himself. And like the man he has been taught to be, he pushes on, never really giving in to self-analysis and self-questioning.
Cob's best hopes for a falling-out of Taric comes to naught. Now that Malarchus is gone and Taric's name is cleared, he and his protegee (of sorts) Nanje lead the King's Army on a forest expedition to eliminate Cob.
Cob's men scatter and they lead a fighting retreat to the deep forest, where they find themselves once again engaged in questionable behavior in the fight for survival.
Cob's men scatter and they lead a fighting retreat to the deep forest, where they find themselves once again engaged in questionable behavior in the fight for survival.
Several more developments.
Cob's men search for the creature in the woods who saved him before. But they can't find it. Cob curses the demihuman for abandoning him.
However, Taric's men have all faded out from the woods too. All the camps are left unguarded. Cob returns to civilization to find that an old foe has returned, in defiance of all probability.
Finally, Cob tries to take Forg back. He suffers two crushing defeats: one military, and one personal.
He leaves Forg, to go to Hawkbluff. He declares his ties to Forg, to Bela, and even to his old name to be entirely void. He starts a new life after suffering an astounding betrayal.
Cob's men search for the creature in the woods who saved him before. But they can't find it. Cob curses the demihuman for abandoning him.
However, Taric's men have all faded out from the woods too. All the camps are left unguarded. Cob returns to civilization to find that an old foe has returned, in defiance of all probability.
Finally, Cob tries to take Forg back. He suffers two crushing defeats: one military, and one personal.
He leaves Forg, to go to Hawkbluff. He declares his ties to Forg, to Bela, and even to his old name to be entirely void. He starts a new life after suffering an astounding betrayal.